"Should we get orange flowers or purple flowers?"
"Why are we getting flowers at all?" Laxus asked with slight annoyance.
The pair strolled through the flower shop, Emi looking at all the flowers with stars in her eyes. Laxus reluctantly followed her through the shop, making sure she didn't run off. She kept picking up different flowers and asked his opinion on them, and he would just shrug every time. Laxus started to look at the different orange and purple flowers, eager to finish this errand so he could take a nap. The dragon slayer would pick up a random purple flower and ask Emi's opinion.
"You're not good at this at all, Laxus."
"Who said I ever wanted to be?"
Emi laughed before turning back to an orange flower. Laxus turned to look away from the flowers when his eyes spotted a group of orange and purple flowers a few stands over. He wandered away without warning and picked up the colorful flower.
"Laxus," Emi said after finding him, "why did you run off? You always yell at me for doing that!"
Laxus looked back towards the purple and orange flower before picking it up and turning around to face Emi. He looked at her and asked if she would approve of this flower. In response, Emi's smile grew wide.
"Birds of Paradise! Of course! How didn't I think of that?"
Emi excitedly took the flower from Laxus, returned to the stand and bought multiple before turning back to Laxus and saying that they could now return home. Laxus breathed out a sigh of relief, thinking that he could finally take his nap.
As the two were walking back, Emi would ramble on about the new flowers, saying that Laxus was a natural at picking out good flowers. Laxus just looked at her unimpressed. Didn't she say I wasn't good at it earlier?
"We're home!"
"Emi, who the hell are you greeting?"
A voice sounded from the living room, "Welcome back! I was waiting for you guys for hours!"
Laxus immediately pushed Emi behind him, told her to stay by the door in case, and slowly made his way to the living room to see who had broken in. He spotted a small group of men sitting in the living room, all carrying weapons. He snuck back over to the front door and told Emi to hide in the forest until he gave the all clear. Emi nervously and silently ran into the forest. Laxus walked back into the house, made his way over to the doorframe of the living room and cracked his knuckles.
"Who the hell do you think you are breaking into my house?"
The leader, presumably, spoke up, saying, "We are Snake Fang, the mightiest dark guild in all of Fiore! We are here to eliminate you, Laxus Dreyar."
"That was a rhetorical question, but that doesn't really matter. I'll kick your ass no matter who you are."
From the forest, Emi could see a huge storm rolling in. She didn't feel afraid, signaling to her that it was Laxus who called the storm. Emi hid behind a short tree and peaked from around the trunk. She saw multiple flashes of light coming from the living room window. Suddenly, everything was quiet.
Emi's head began to ache, and suddenly there was a sharp pain shooting through her temples. She crashed to the ground on her knees and held her head. She kept looking at the light that was in the house, and it caused her to feel nauseous when combined with the pain.
Laxus had finished tying up the remainder of the group from Snake Fang and tossed them out of the house. He was on his way to town to turn them in. The mage quickly found Emi and went to tell her that the house was now safe. However, Laxus found that the woman was folded over in pain. Laxus immediately rushed to her side and asked what happened. She looked up to Laxus with pain-filled eyes.
"I remembered something."
Laxus unconsciously dropped the intruder to the ground and looked shocked.
"Are you sure? What was it?"
"There was some yelling and then a bright light that went up to the sky. And then I saw something red fly towards me, but that's all I can remember."
-----------------------
After turning in Snake Fang, Laxus and Emi headed towards the flower gardens. Emi was visibly upset after her small memory and Laxus knew that the garden would cheer her up. He had convinced her to get the ice cream before they entered the gardens, however, because he was not going to stand there for hours without something to do. He had told Emi that they could stay as long as she wanted. Three hours later, Laxus came to regret this decision, as the woman was still bouncing between flower patches with unmatched energy.
"Laxus! This one is my favorite one!" Emi exclaimed as she pointed to a patch of Calla Lilies.
"You've been saying that to every flower for the past three hours," Laxus mumbled.
Emi turned back to the lilies, looking at them once more before skipping towards a patch of daisies. She bent down on her knees in order to get a better look at the flowers when she suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder. Thinking it was Laxus, she turned her head with a smile on her face. She was met, however, with an unknown man.
"Oh, um, hello."
The man simply smiled before extending his hand to hers to help her stand up. Emi got a closer look at him. He had green eyes and brown hair, and he stood a few inches taller than her. Once she was standing up and facing him, the man looked at her before pulling out a purple orchid. He slowly put it in her hair.
"A beautiful flower for a beautiful woman."
Emi simply smiled at the man, earning one in return. They had begun to talk while looking at the different flowers. They made small conversation before returning to the fountain at the center of the gardens, where Laxus was impatiently waiting for the woman who had run off again without telling him. He saw her walking towards the fountain with a smile on her face.
"There you are. Where the hell did you run off to this ti--"
He stopped when he saw the man standing behind her.
"Laxus, look! Isn't this flower pretty? Ian gave it to me," Emi said, gesturing to the man that Laxus didn't know.
"Is that so? Very nice of you, Ian," Laxus let out through gritted teeth.
"Yes, I believed that a woman as gorgeous as Emi should be in possession of something that can match her beauty. Though that is nearly impossible."
Emi blushed before sitting next to Laxus on the fountain's edge and swinging her legs because she couldn't reach the ground. Ian had said his goodbye after kissing Emi's hand.
"That guy was really nice, don't you think?"
"Sure. Nice."
"Is something wrong, Laxus?"
Laxus scoffed before turning towards the woman. He grabbed both her shoulders and looked her in the eye.
"You're an idiot."
Emi tilted her head in response, clearly confused.
"Don't turn around right away, but I want you to look at the back of Ian's neck."
Emi nodded and stood up to make it look like she was stretching. Casually taking a glance at the spot that Laxus had told her to, she noticed a guild symbol. Emi had turned back to Laxus and sat back down.
"Okay. He's part of a guild. So what?"
"That crest is of Snake Fang, idiot. It's the same crest that those guys who broke in wore."
Emi's face flushed red and she hung her head low. Really?
"Am I that hopeless? I can sense when someone follows me through the woods, but I can't even sense when someone from a dark guild is standing right in front of me."
"Let's head back before something happens. I swear, you're almost as dense as Natsu at times."
---------------------
Natsu's sneeze echoed through the guild hall.
"Geez, Salamander. You sure have a lot of people talking crap about you."
"Shut up, Bolt. Hey Gramps! When can we go see Emi and Laxus again? I'm hungry."
"Can't you go a day without complaining," Gray said from the bar.
"What did you say?!"
"Children, please," Master Makarov started, "I'm sure that Laxus would not appreciate all of us showing up uninvited again."
"She told me I could come back anytime I wanted!" Natsu protested.
"Yeah," Lucy interrupted, "she invited you, not Fairy Tail."
Suddenly, Evergreen, Bickslow and Freed burst into the hall out of breath.
"Master, we've just gotten word that Snake Fang had attacked 'a house in the woods' earlier today," Freed stated, emphasizing the description of the place of attack with air quotes.
"Oh no," Wendy replied, "that sounds like Emi's house."
"I guess we're taking a trip then, right Gramps?" Natsu asked almost enthusiastically.
"Yes, I guess it can't be helped," Makarov replied, also a little too enthusiastic.
-----------------------------
"Prepare yourself."
"Huh?"
Emi and Laxus had arrived back home about an hour ago. Emi was reading on the couch in the living room with Laxus laying his head in her lap. They had finally been able to sit down after a long day. Laxus, however, was not able to take his nap, leaving him grumpy like a toddler. He settled for this, as it was still relaxing.
"They're coming."
"Who is?"
"Fairy Tail."
Emi looked away from her book and down at Laxus.
"How on earth can you tell?"
"Unfortunately, I can smell them."
About ten minutes later, a loud knock was heard at the door. Emi went up to answer it, but Laxus refused to move from his position on her lap. Emi pleaded to him to let her up, but he stayed put and smirked with his eyes closed. Just then, they were both startled when they heard a loud tap on the window to the living room. Laxus jumped up from Emi's lap and walked over to the window, his once calm aura being replaced with one of pure irritation. Laxus quickly opened the window, making sure to give Natsu's head a smack as it opened.
"Hey!"
"What the hell do you all want?" Laxus growled.
Makarov moved from in front of the door to the open window and said, "We heard the reports of a dark guild attacking a house matching your description, so we came to make sure Emi was safe."
Just Emi? Figures. Laxus scoffed at his grandfather's statement.
"You think I can't handle a small group from a dark guild? I've been taking down entire dark guilds throughout the past couple years. I can handle five or six of them."
"Yes, well we just wanted to make sur--" Makarove stopped speaking in shock when he finally processed what Laxus had said.
"DARK GUILDS? THIS WHOLE TIME THE MAGE DESTROYING DARK GUILDS WAS YOU?"
"Uh yeah, that's what I said, old man."
"LAXUS."
Laxus looked completely bored with the conversation and started to shut the window to go back to relaxing. He ignored his grandfather's scolding and yelling and shut the blinds once the window was completely closed.
"They're as energetic as ever," Emi said through her laughter.
"Yeah, tell me about it."
"LAXUS YOU BETTER BE LISTENING TO ME. HOW DARE YOU DO THAT WITHOUT TELLING ANYONE."
"Why the hell is he so loud?"
"Because," Emi answered, "taking down dark guilds in an extremely dangerous task. He's just worried about you."
"Can't believe he actually didn't realize. I mean look at the headlines," Laxus said while picking up a random newspaper, "It even says 'dark guild Lion Claw destroyed overnight as a suspicious storm rolled through' right on the front page."
"LAXUS."
Emi couldn't contain her laughter anymore. She put down her book on the table by the couch and made a move for the door.
"What do you think you're doing? You can't actually want them to come in, do you?"
"Of course I do! They're a lot of fun and very entertaining to watch."
Laxus grumbled and took his usual seat in the living room as Emi went to answer the door. As soon as she opened the door, a group of wizards came crashing into the doorway. Cana, Mira, Levy, Lucy and Erza all held their heads as they picked themselves off the floor. Emi realized that they were probably eavesdropping on the brief conversation she had had with Laxus.
Makarov was the next one to approach the door and gave a quick "excuse me" to Emi before storming into the living room to Laxus.
"Now you listen here, young man. You mustn't continue with this! You're putting yourself and Emi in danger of these dark guilds!"
Laxus opened his eyes and sighed, knowing that he wouldn't be able to escape his grandfather's lecture.
"Relax old man. That's why we have a house at this location. People would have to come through the dense woods in order to get here. It's safe, so stop your worrying."
"Yeah but weren't you attacked this morning?" Macao asked.
"It was easily taken care of. They didn't even last through one hit."
"That's not the point! WHAT IF EMI WAS IN THE HOUSE ALONE AND YOU WEREN'T HERE TO PROTECT HER? ARE YOU LISTENING?"
Laxus let out a low growl before replying with, "I'll always be here to protect her."
"It's true, Master Grampa--"
"Please child, stop calling me that."
"--Laxus made a promise to me that he would protect me until I don't need it anymore."
Everyone turned towards Laxus and saw that he had a deep red tint to his cheeks. He quickly shook it off and he wore a bored expression on his face once again.
"So will you all just leave us alone?" Laxus asked, clearly annoyed.
Emi laughed and turned towards the group while saying, "I'm sorry. Poor little Laxus didn't have his nap today, so he's a bit cranky."
"I am not!"
Everyone eventually left excluding Makarov and Natsu, one aiming to get some answers about his grandson's whereabouts for the last three years and the other aiming to get some food.
"Emi, I'm hungry."
"Natsu," Makarov said as he turned to the dragon slayer, "we are here to get information, so please save your stomach for later."
Natsu grumbled and he stomped his way into the living room.
"Laxus, fight me!"
"Didn't I hear the old man say he wanted you to get information, not get yourself beat up?"
As if hearing this, Makarov re-entered the living room, glaring at both mages. He went to speak when he was interrupted by Emi who came in with some tea and a batch of leftover cookies. After putting them down on the table, Emi looked awkwardly between the three and went to leave the room. She successfully made her way to her bedroom when she realized that she had forgotten her book. Oh well. I definitely can't get between that.
Laxus looked at the two full of disinterest. Makarov was quietly sipping his tea and reached for a cookie.
"Hey old man, how brave are you?" Laxus suddenly asked.
Makarov looked confused at the sudden question before answering that he could brave almost anything if it was for family, not getting what he was getting at. Laxus smirked and headed out to the kitchen. Laxus heard a cough from the room he had just left, signaling that his grandfather had eaten the cookie. The lightning mage returned to the living room with a glass of water and handed it to the guild master.
Upon hearing the coughing, Emi let out a quick "sorry!" from the upstairs.
"My, she puts hot sauce in everything. Laxus, why does she---"
"I've been trying to figure that out for two years, old man."
"Oh hell yes. Spicy cookies!"
Laxus and Makarov looked at Natsu with a look that can be described as wonder and annoyance. Natsu continued to shove cookies into his mouth as he sat next to the master. The pair looked at each other before Makarov sighed. Laxus raised an eyebrow at the calm aura that had replaced his grandfather's previous irritation.
"All I ask is that you be careful and to protect that girl with your life."
"Don't worry old man. I've already done that."
"YOU WHAT? ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT YOU'VE ALREADY ALMOST DIED? I'LL KILL YOU."